Harling's Hope
by Skylinneas
Summary: Trapped behind enemy lines with food and water running out and cut off from the rest of the world, ex-Osean president Vincent Harling records his last wishes for the world to know as he waits for the inevitable. - Ace Combat 7 Fanfic -
1. Harling's Hope

Is this thing on?

I'm sorry, it's just…what was that, Tommy? …. Ah, okay, I think it's working now. Thanks, buddy.

Ah…how do I begin this?

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My name is Vincent Harling, former President of the Osean Federation. Today is June 5th, 2019. It has been twenty-one days since the Erusean forces moved in and capture the International Space Elevator during my routine inspection of the facility. I was trapped alongside two of my colleagues in a secure bunker somewhere in the northeast. We can see the bridge connecting to Selatapura from here, but it's heavily guarded by Erusean soldiers, and even if we somehow make it all the way to Selatapura, the city is still under complete Erusean control. There's no way we can escape on our own.

My friend Colonel Johnson has kept us safe here so far, but food and water are running low, probably could last us a few days at most. Tommy managed to reboot an old laptop in this room but we can't do anything significant with it without alerting the Eruseans of our location. We managed to learn that the IUN is mounting a rescue mission tomorrow, though, but that's all we know. I guess all we can do is hope for the best.

The battery's almost out, too, and the charger's nowhere to be found. I decided to record this video…just in case, well, just in case anything happens to me. Johnson and Tommy already recorded their parts so that leaves only me. I wanted people to know the truth…about the Lighthouse and what it really stood for. I must see to it that it must be protected at all costs.

Alright, here goes nothing.

Princess Cossette, if by any chance that you are watching this video right now, please understand I truly have no wish for us to become enemies. I know that your father had you convinced that everything we did is threatening your country's security, which couldn't be further from the truth. I cannot convince your father, but I really hope that perhaps you can still understand, and put a stop to this conflict before it goes on any longer.

Let me say this loud and clear: I never intended to use the International Space Elevator as a means to take over Usea. I cannot emphasize this enough. I understand that the D'Elise Royal Family still has reservations about my country's intentions, seeing how Erusea is still reeling from the effects of the disastrous Spring Sea Treaty that led to the coup d'état in 1998, but to start yet another conflict over it, all this needless…_chaos_…it's all a tragic misunderstanding of colossal proportions.

The Arsenal Birds _Liberty _and _Justice_, the two highly-advanced airborne fortresses which are now under Erusea's control, were never meant to exist. Had I still be in the office, I would never have gone forward with the project. It's true that the Lighthouse is a valuable strategic position that requires heavy security, but I would never let a weapon of mass destruction as terrible as the Arsenal Bird be the centerpiece of it. Alas, it was the decision of my country's current president to include them, but I assure you, they were never meant to be the weapons that will terrify Usea into submission, even if that is what the Eruseans are using them for right now.

I should've been clearer about where Osea and Usea stand. Everything I did, it was truly for the good of the world. Usea was devastated by the many conflicts that happened in the past few decades, not to mention the Ulysses strike. Countless cities abandoned, refugees wandered aimlessly in search of a new home, the cycles of conflict that began out of desperation. The Lighthouse can put an end to all of that. Its unlimited energy could help kickstart the reconstruction efforts that was put on hold ever since the Continental War in 2004. It could solve the refugee issue that has been plaguing the continent for decades. It could bring back even the ruins of the old Farbanti back to its former glory. But most of all, the Lighthouse could prevent something like the Ulysses from ever happening again.

We failed to stop the Ulysses from causing worldwide destruction because we didn't have time to prepare. Stonehenge was the only defense we have and the Chandelier in Estovakia was not completed in time. The Lighthouse could give us _that _time. Even as I speak, a team of highly trained astronauts from every corner of the world was sent up there seven years earlier, using this very space elevator, to intercept a large asteroid that could pose a potential risk of striking into our planet.

With the Lighthouse, all space agencies across the planet can cooperate together with the superstructure's numerous cutting-edge technology to find and eliminate any potential Ulysses-scenario long before it could become a reality, but it needs your help. I put my faith in my astronauts to protect us from another catastrophe. Now I ask you to do the same for the completion of the Lighthouse. This structure is not only our best chance at survival as a species, but also the symbol of unity and cooperation between nations, and I'd gladly lay down my life to defend it.

It is the stage for humanity to show the best in themselves for the world to see and inspire others to follow. It is the bridge of peace that will lead us into the stars beyond and to our bright future. Then, and only then, do we truly have a world without borders.

... What is it, Johnson? Okay. Keep your head down, Tommy. Stay calm...

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… Whew. That went well, I'd say. …

I'm sorry. An Erusean patrol group has just passed us by in the corridor. They have no idea we're here and we'd like it to remain that way. Poor Tommy, though. He seems pretty nervous about all this. Probably reminds him of the last time he was stuck in a combat zone with me.

That reminds me…

I assume that by now everybody has known about my involvement in the Belkan Conflict nine years ago, about how Belka manipulated my country and Yuktobania into going to war with each other as a revenge of their loss in the Belkan War.

Tomorrow will be the 24th anniversary of the seven nuclear bombs; Belka's desperate act to stop the Osean forces from advancing any further into their country and destroying anything in their way. We forced their hand, and it resulted in the most horrifying tragedy of our entire history, second only to the Ulysses impact. Ever since that day, the hatred that many Belkans have for us has cast a long shadow over the course of history, and the whole world suffered for it.

I was in the middle of it all. I had witnessed firsthand how blind hatred can consume someone and turn them into remorseless warmongers, and thousands of lives are caught in the crossfire. This is not the future we want for our children. We must rise above our dark desires, put aside our differences, and unite together if we hope to bring about a lasting peace. A good friend of mine had taught me that. We must believe that unity and peace are possible, that one can be willing to give their all for the good of many without asking for anything in return. That is the future I would love to see in our world.

I have previously mentioned in 2013 that all records detailing the truth behind the Belkan Conflict to be revealed to the public in the next year. I implore President James Harrison of the Osean Federation, please proceed to do so with utmost importance. Former Prime Minister Nikanor of Yuktobania – my dearest friend - will also gladly vouch for my decision.

This is my final wish. In these hidden records, you will find information about the unsung heroes who have previously gone unmentioned due to security reasons, but I beg you to learn from them. Learn about these pilots' journey from their rise, their downfall, and their redemption. Learn from the mistakes I and so many others have made that led to a bloody and ultimately needless conflict. Learn how to become a better person through these hidden stories, I beg of you. Do not let history repeat itself once again as it does right now.

To Princess Cossette, as I have mentioned previously, I have meant everything I said and I hope that you will now realize what I really tried to accomplish. You are a young, spirited woman with an idealistic mind who looks out for the best of her people; a combination of gifted qualities one should possess as a leader of a nation, but you must understand that reality of the world is not always what you wish it to be. War is not clean. It is a chaotic solution to solve a mundane problem, which ultimately fails to achieve anything meaningful except causing more hatred. I have been through this position before, and I had already suffered from my mistakes. I do not wish to see you ended up the same way as me when there is still a chance to walk away from it.

To the unsung heroes who have saved my life time and time again and brought an end to the Belkan Conflict, I once again must say thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will never forget how you fought for our soldiers' lives and let them come back home to their families. I will never forget how you rescued me from my captors and revealed the true culprits behind the conflict. And I will never forget how you risked everything to end it. Thank you for being the blaze of light that shines through the darkness and led us into a peaceful world. This bridge of peace that I am currently residing within is my greatest gift for you and what you fought for.

To my wife Amelia and my daughter Annabeth, I'm sorry that I was never really there for you. I buried myself my work and barely has some time to be a proper husband and a father as I should have been. I have always loved you both from the bottom of my heart and I wish I have had more time to express it.

Amelia, you've always been the shining beacon in my thoughts that led me through the troubling times. All that ruthless political maneuverings and hours of endless piles of work at Bright Hill, I couldn't have made it through it all without you. You are the greatest lady a man could have ever asked for, and I am blessed to have you as my wife.

And Annabeth, daddy loves you very much, okay? I'm coming home to you soon so don't you worry one bit. Be strong for your mother and keep on working on that Arkbird model. I'd love to see it when I finally get home. I promise I'll bring you to an air show later. Be a good girl, okay? See you soon, Annie.

…

Okay, Johnson said we should rest up for now. We don't know when the IUN will mount a rescue operation tomorrow so we'll have to be prepared for anything. Heh, why does this all seem pretty familiar? If I could somehow see four planes with black wings flying as the cavalry tomorrow, I can believe with certainty that everything's going to be alright, but I know that it's unlikely to happen.

I'll have to end the recording now. The battery's almost empty now anyway so I doubt it'll last a minute longer. I'm going to stash this laptop somewhere in one of the old desks in the room. Hopefully, someone will discover this and play this video. It's a long shot.

Maybe nobody could ever find our videos at all. Maybe what we've done here is all for nothing.

But one can hope, right? After all, hope is what keeps us going. As long as we never lose hope, we will never truly lose ourselves.

I'm sure everything's going to be fine.

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**Author's note: One more one-shot! I put this little fic together during what little break-time I have from my day job, so it might feel a bit rush in some place, but I really wanted to write it. I wanted to give some closure to our favorite president, Vincent Harling. **

**You know his name, you know what he did, and you know what happened to him in that fateful mission. Being a big fan of AC5, I was very upset for a large while after that (not to mention already reeling from Brownie getting shot down in the mission just before this one. What the hell, Project Aces!?). I **_**have **_**to write this, to give Harling some final closure that ends his journey on a high note. It's the least I could do for that guy. What is it with me and getting overly attached to some fictional characters? xD**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this one! A little break before I begin to write the next chapter for "A Night In San Salvacion" fic. Also, a bit random trivia, but Harling's wife is named after Amelia Earhart, the famous American aviator and their daughter Annabeth is named after my favorite character from the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. Her father is a pretty kickass pilot, after all, xD.**

**Also, a quick shout-out to Spare 15 (reddit) and his YouTube account "Strider 1 Trigger" for doing a voiceover of this fic on his YouTube channel. Please check it out as well and subscribe if you can. :) **


	2. Epilogue

"Cossette! What the hell are you still doing here?! It's almost time for your speech!"

Avril shouted as she barged into the room, her impatient voice directed at a young blonde-haired lady sitting at the only desk in the room. Cossette's slumped head rested in her hands.

"Come on, princess! The astronauts could be here any minute now! It's…"

Avri paused as she took a good look at Cossette. It was clear that she's not feeling well.

"Hey, you alright?" Avril's voice softened as she moved in slowly to check on her friend, "You feelin' well? Should I tell them to postpone the speech?"

Cossette just silently shook her head in response, her eyes still directed to the desk in front of her. It was at this point that Avril noticed that Cossette was watching something: a video recording in a laptop. A video recording of a certain Osean ex-president.

"…_But one can hope, right? After all, hope is what keeps us going. As long as we never lose hope, we will never truly lose ourselves…__I'm sure everything's going to be fine."_

And with that, the video recording stopped. Avril heard an audible sigh from Cossette as she leaned back on her chair, her eyes staring emptily into the distance.

"I was such a fool," She mumbled, "How could I have been so foolish?"

_Well, that's nothing new considering it's you. _Avril thought. She had to resist making that joke out loud to lighten up Cossette's mood, but she realized it's not appropriate considering her state right now.

"That's Harling, right?" Avril asked. Cossette slowly nodded in response.

"He…he made a video...before his aircraft was shot down," Cossette said in a small voice, almost a whisper.

"Last message?" Avril asked, intrigued to know how a dead president's last video could drive her friend so upset like this.

"Yes."

"What did he say in there?"

"The truth that I was ignorant for so long," Cossette replied, tears started forming in her eyes, "This space elevator, it was never meant to intimidate Erusea…or the rest of Usea, for that matter. He truly intended for it to be used in the name of peace…and to protect the world from another Ulysses. He even promised to help rebuild Farbanti using it. This…this Lighthouse…it was his gift for us, and I squandered it like a fool."

Cossette's voice started to crack. Avril remained silent, not knowing what to say to her friend. Harling might not be her favorite person, not by a longshot, but she trusted Cossette and believed her about what she said about him.

"This entire war, all this madness…it happened because of me," Cossette continued, her voice started to crack as her feelings finally started to sink in, "I arrogantly convinced my people to go to war with Osea because I believed they were trying to take over us, to spread conflict to my country, and it was all for nothing. It's all my fault."

"No, it's not," Avril said sternly. She grabbed the princess gently by her shoulders and turned her to face her, "It was your father's. It was _his_ idea to go to war, as well as those idiot officers that backed him. He just used you as a means to that end. You told me yourself. Your father and his officers manipulated you to play along because the people like you. They needed you to inspire them to support their cause."

"But I still chose to follow them," Cossette replied bitterly, "I never attempted to resist my father or those officers, never had any thought of my own, never even stopped to question if what I'm doing was right or it was truly for the best of my people. I lied to myself that going to war with Osea was the right thing because I didn't have the courage to stand up to them, and now my country is in ruins because of my mistakes. I was such a coward."

"A coward wouldn't run head-first into a bullet-ridden battlefield just to light a flare," Avril said gently, "They also wouldn't have the guts to pull a HALO jump from the tallest building in the world while being shot at by drones, either. You are no coward, princess. You did some idiotic things, yes, but you also accepted that you were wrong and did your goddamn best to make up for it. A lot of people never did."

"But does it matter for the people who died? People who should be alive right now?" Cossette fired back, "Harling would still be alive right now if not for me. He would've been back home with his wife and daughter if not for me. How many lives have been lost because _I_ _fucked up!?_"

Cossette slammed her fists into the desk angrily as she started sobbing, her sudden outburst startled even Avril. Avril was no stranger to profanity, but hearing them coming out of Cossette's mouth was something she never expected. She had never seen the princess like this before. Sure, there was the time when she was all messy when Avril first met her on Tyler Island, but she didn't break down like this.

Avril gritted her teeth, feeling the need to do something to comfort her friend, but she just doesn't know how. They always make it seem so easy in books or in movies; when someone's sad, just hug them tight and say some cheerful words, then they'll be back on their feet in no time. Real life doesn't work like that.

_Ah, hell, like I know how to do anything else. _Avril thought. At least doing something is better than leaving her like this, not when she has to do an important public speech soon after. _Might as well give it a shot._

Avril gently placed her arms around Cossette from the back, carefully wrapping her in a warm embrace.

"You know, I used to hate Harling," She began, "I blamed him for sending my father to die in the last war and the fact that his overly preachy pacifism policies made my country vulnerable to corruption and subterfuge. He's that idiot who believed laying down his own weapon would mean his enemy would do the same, and he died for it. Shows what he knows, really. But after I saw that picture in the Lighthouse, the one with all those people holding hands, I finally realized that there might be more to him than meet the eyes. How could he be so beloved by so many if that wasn't the case? The man must've done something right to earn that much love from his people."

Avril let go of the princess then slowly turned her chair so that Cossette was facing her. She looked into her eyes as she did the same. At the very least, Cossette wasn't crying now.

"The way I see it, you're no different than Harling, princess. Some people might hate you for what you did, but there are many others who don't, and I'm one of them. You didn't lead these people to war on your behalf, they _chose_ to fight for you because they _believed_ in you. Hell, I fought for you even when I'm supposed to be your enemy! That's how much I believe in you."

"But…but what if something terrible happens to you because you believed in me? How could you still follow me after everything that's happened?" Cossette asked.

"Because I know you won't repeat your mistakes," Avril replied, her face forming a small, reassuring smile, "You remember that talk we had about looking into Harling's mirror? You once believed that the space elevator should be destroyed, and I did as well. Now we both realized it's the only chance this continent has at salvation. People _can _change, and I guess that's what Harling believed in you. Hell, it was _you_ who convinced that Belkan doctor to see the error of his ways and stop the drone production, remember? It's proof that you can be better than who you were before. We all can."

Avril embraced the princess again, and this time, Cossette actually has the courage to embrace her back as well. She rested her head softly on Avril's left shoulder. She was crying again, but they were tears of relief. She could finally rest easy now, knowing that her best friend is here for her.

"Your past mistakes don't define you, Cossette. What you choose to do with your second chance does, and I know you won't let us down," Avril whispered into Cossette's ear, "That's who you are, princess. It's who you see in your mirror."

Even though she couldn't see it, Avril could feel a smile finally forming on Cossette's face, prompting her to smile as well.

_Can't believe that trick in the movies worked. _She thought humorously. _Never knew I had it in me."_

They stayed embraced to each other for about a minute before they parted. Avril helped Cossette up from her chair and dusted her dress off and adjust her hair in place.

"I…thank you so much, Avril," Cossette finally spoke, "From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much…for everything."

"Well, couldn't let you stay like that forever, could I?" Avril grinned, finally back to her snarky self, "Imagine the press shitstorm I have to deal with if I have to tell them that you're not ready for your speech yet. Now get out there already! Everyone's waiting."

As they were walking out of the room, an announcement started playing on the loudspeakers in the hallway.

"_And now, ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to the brave astronauts of Pilgrim One, finally returned after their long Journey Home in deep space!"_

Loud clapping was heard, backed by an orchestra performing a song, a song that Avril recognized and knew really well.

"Heh, they played that song again, just like nine years ago."

"The song?"

"Harling's favorite song."

Cossette listened to the song as she and Avril walked along the hallway to the outside, couldn't help but smile as the angelic voice of the singer reached her ears. It's making her feel hopeful again.

No matter what she has to face in the near future, she will not give up. People who believed in her is counting on her, and so was Vincent Harling. She will continue to preserve his legacy through this space elevator he died trying to protect. She will be the voice of reason in the world full of conflicts. She will resolve quarrels not with violence but with compassion. She will not let fear get in her way of doing the right thing again.

She has received her second chance, and she will make absolutely sure she earns it.

_Thank you for giving me this chance, President Harling._

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_The journey begins_

_Starts from within_

_Things that I need to know_

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_The song of the bird_

_Echoed in words_

_Flying for the need to fly_

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_Thoughts endless in flight_

_Day turns to night_

_Questions you ask your soul_

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_Which way do I go?_

_How fast is too slow?_

_The journey has its time within us_

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_If a man can fly over an ocean_

_And no mountains can get in his way_

_Will he fly on forever_

_Searching for something to believe_

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_From above I can see from the heavens_

_Down below I see the storm raging on_

_And somewhere in the answer_

_There is a hope to carry on_

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_When I finally return_

_Things that I learn_

_Carry me back to home_

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_The thoughts that I feed_

_Planting a seed_

_With time will begin to grow_

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_The more that I try_

_The more that I fly_

_The answer in itself will be there_

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**The Journey Home, ****vocals by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (Orchestral version) and Elizabeth Ladizinsky (Radio version)**

**Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War**

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**Author's note: I initially intended for "Harling's Hope" to be a one-shot, but I just think it doesn't feel right if I leave it to end like that. What if nobody ever finds his video record? His heartfelt recording would've gone to waste and that'd be even more tragic than what happened to him, so I decided to write a little follow-up. Hopefully, this should be enough. I also wanted to bring the song "The Journey Home" back as well considering that it's pretty much the song everyone in AC5 loves, so I guess it would make sense that it is Harling's favorite song as well.**

**Also, I was looking for a chance to finally write a Princess-centric story for once, and since she might not fit well in my other story "A Night In San Salvacion", she does fit well here. Timeline-wise, this chapter took place a bit before Chapter 3: The Ace Who Was Left Behind in my "Grounded Aces" fic, so you could continue to read that chapter to see how this leads to that as well. **

**Anyway, thanks again for reading guys! Please review if you can. I would like to know how you think about it! :)**


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